I3 Pro C dual ext first build
Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2016 4:56 pm
Hi All
I am new to the forum and I thought I'd share a few thoughts on building my first 3d Printer (and a minor problem)
I am a control systems technician by profession so I thought I would have little difficulty with this project and indeed I haven't had many problems as yet
GEEETech support seems very good and there are many hints and tips here on the forum.
here are a few tips I picked up during the assembly stage.
Fitting the bearings to the idler wheels. You don't need a press or anything for this. It is easily accomplished in a bench vice, put a couple of bits of old PCB or something similar either side to protect the surfaces and just gently squeeze them in. In fact you could even tap them in gently with a hammer.
Z Axis assy. I found that it was easier to fit both ends of the Z axis and the X carriage to the X rods and then lower the whole thing into the motor couplings and Z rod sockets instead of the method suggested in the manual. Doing it one side at a time seemed to need about 4 hands and risked cracking the bottom mountings as the whole weight is unsupported at one end.
I too had the famous problem of the Z screws being very tight in the top mountings. someone here suggested using the Z screws themselves as a kind of file (technically a broaching cutter) to ease the holes very slightly, this worked really well along with a little oil and patience you can get a really good sliding fit on the rods. Filing a slight chamfer on the ends of the rods also helps.
I found that I had to mount the extruder in the middle set of holes in the mounting plate or it fouled of the Z Axis at the ends but doing so meant that the fan does not fit because the end of the mounting plate is behind the front of the extruder
I have referred this to Sherry Li at GEEETech to see what she suggests but I suspect all that will be needed will be a couple of little spacers.
Has anyone else had this problem ?
So far the mechanical side has been really easy bar these minor problems and I am now on to the wiring which is pretty simple as most of it is plug in you just have to plug the right plugs into the right sockets.
There is a fair bit of it but it's all pretty logical. Nowhere near as much wiring as some of the big Industrial jobs I've done. We used 5KM of thermocouple cable alone on one job.
Regards to All Mark
I am new to the forum and I thought I'd share a few thoughts on building my first 3d Printer (and a minor problem)
I am a control systems technician by profession so I thought I would have little difficulty with this project and indeed I haven't had many problems as yet
GEEETech support seems very good and there are many hints and tips here on the forum.
here are a few tips I picked up during the assembly stage.
Fitting the bearings to the idler wheels. You don't need a press or anything for this. It is easily accomplished in a bench vice, put a couple of bits of old PCB or something similar either side to protect the surfaces and just gently squeeze them in. In fact you could even tap them in gently with a hammer.
Z Axis assy. I found that it was easier to fit both ends of the Z axis and the X carriage to the X rods and then lower the whole thing into the motor couplings and Z rod sockets instead of the method suggested in the manual. Doing it one side at a time seemed to need about 4 hands and risked cracking the bottom mountings as the whole weight is unsupported at one end.
I too had the famous problem of the Z screws being very tight in the top mountings. someone here suggested using the Z screws themselves as a kind of file (technically a broaching cutter) to ease the holes very slightly, this worked really well along with a little oil and patience you can get a really good sliding fit on the rods. Filing a slight chamfer on the ends of the rods also helps.
I found that I had to mount the extruder in the middle set of holes in the mounting plate or it fouled of the Z Axis at the ends but doing so meant that the fan does not fit because the end of the mounting plate is behind the front of the extruder
I have referred this to Sherry Li at GEEETech to see what she suggests but I suspect all that will be needed will be a couple of little spacers.
Has anyone else had this problem ?
So far the mechanical side has been really easy bar these minor problems and I am now on to the wiring which is pretty simple as most of it is plug in you just have to plug the right plugs into the right sockets.
There is a fair bit of it but it's all pretty logical. Nowhere near as much wiring as some of the big Industrial jobs I've done. We used 5KM of thermocouple cable alone on one job.
Regards to All Mark